There may be a time and a place for everything. The difficulty is figuring out when and where.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Woe Is Crazy - It's That Sunday Feeling

In approximately 72 hours, the Parents of Crazy will descend on her (very messy) abode for our annual Thanksgiving visit. This weekend, I should have:

1. Removed all clutter so as to accommodate visitors.2. Dealt with my perpetual problem of the bedroom that doubles as a closet, i.e., dealt with organizing the actual closet, placed clothing in the closet and the dresser, and stopped living like the Lady of the Piles.3. Cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen.4. Vaccuumed.5. Finalized the still-have-to- buy-for-thanksgiving shopping list.

In addition to all of this, I also should have:

1. Done a small bit of grading. (Though think I will do this tonight, so all is not lost.)2. Worked on the book manuscript.3. Finished reading a novel for Tuesday.4. Come up with a checklist for proposals I'll need to grade on the spot before the holiday (which I can't due because I don't actually have the assignment at home).5. Called back a friend who's called me twice over the past week and to whose messages I've not responded.

What I actually did this weekend was:1. Read the Philip Pullman books. Oh god. They are so awesome.2. Went shopping again, buying things that are fit for a life that I want but not a life that I have. (My big score was a dressy-dress that originally was $160 but that I bought for $23. It would be perfect for a dinner at a fancy-ish restaurant or similar. Tragically, I do not ever need such a dress in my flannel-pajama-based existence.)3. Had brunch with colleagues.4. Alternated between staring into space and compulsively checking the CHE forums, the job search wiki, and my email.5. Napped.6. Oh, and I watched The Ghost Whisperer and What Not to Wear.

While it is good to take time to recharge, it is BAD to loaf around as if one does not have visitors coming in just a few short days. Similarly, it is BAD to loaf around as if one does not have pre-Thanksgiving professional activities. That said? I am tired. Tired of the semester and tired of having to do things. So maybe I will forgive myself. Though right now I have that feeling from high school where you put off all of your mountains of homework until Sunday night. Not good, friends. Not good at all.

5 comments:

I suspected you'd like the Pullman books, particularly with your, erm, interest in the Potter.

When Willow introduced them to me a couple of years ago, I plowed through them as if they were candy, but I want to go back and look at them, particualrly the final one, with an eye toward detail and toward the philosophical/cosmological ramifications. Plus, how can you not love Iorek Byrnison? He's appeared a couple of times in bedtime stories I've told the kids recently.

Glad you liked the His Dark Materials Trilogy. They give me chills (the good kind, of course). Who would have thought that Paradise Lost with adolescents could be this fabulous? Well, Pullman, obviously, but who else? He is a genious. Of course, it is obvious why some people dislike the books for theological reasons - a friend of mine is very upset that Pullman uses his immense talent for 'the wrong side.' For this reason, I think he finds my 'fangirl' reaction to Pullman a wee bit disturbing. But I am glad to hear the Pullman fanclub is expanding!